Photographing documents on microfilm to save storage space is a well known technique and has wide application throughout industry. One type of photographic storage medium is termed a microfiche which constitutes a single film negative approximately the size of a normal index filing card and having thereon by way of example 60 different exposures arranged in rows and columns. A single such microfiche can in many instances serve to store the entire record of an individual; for example, a personnel record. In other instances, documented information which is 60 pages or less can be completely contained on one microfiche. It is, of course, possible to double the number of individual frames or exposures on a microfiche by simply making each frame half size. The use of microfiche as opposed to microfilm reels has certain advantages insofar as locating a particular image or frame to be viewed in that it is not necessary to wind through a large reel of film in order to arrive at the desired frame or image. Rather, the particular microfiche can be selected directly and placed in a specially designed viewer for microfiche and the desired frame or image then selected from those exposed on the microfiche.
Microfiche are normally stored in conventional boxes similar to those used for similarly sized index cards. In an actual operation of reviewing a particular file or document, the specific microfiche or microfiches if more than one microfiche is involved are simply selected from the box and placed in an appropriate viewer.
Where many thousands of microfiche are of record, it is often a burdensome manual operation to select the desired microfiche and place it in a viewer. Accordingly, steps have been taken towards attempting to automate the selection of a microfiche from a large storage bank for purposes of viewing the same. Since a single microfiche is very thin the same constituting only a single film and also relatively flexible, it has proven difficult to design any type of automatic system for feeding a selected microfiche to a viewer. Efforts thus far in this direction have taken the form of metal frames specifically designed to surround the edges of a microfiche, the frames being provided with appropriate catch means for cooperation with engaging machinery which can pull the framed microfiche from a storage area and automatically position it in a viewer.
The foregoing process is relatively expensive inasmuch as a frame is needed for each individual microfiche. It would be highly desirable if some techinque could be developed which would enable automatic retrieval and restorage of microfiche without having in any way to attach foreign parts to the microfiche itself.